


If I'm With You

by AuroraHearts



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Boys In Love, Childhood Memories, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraHearts/pseuds/AuroraHearts
Summary: Riku isn't thrilled about the goofy couples costume Sora picked out for Halloween, but childhood memories remind him why agreeing to be Sora's other half is always a good idea.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 64





	If I'm With You

**Author's Note:**

> This bunch of fluff was written for the Soriku Halloween spooky exchange on the Sky and Land Discord server! I'll put the prompt in the end notes as not to spoil any surprises. Enjoy!

“I'm not wearing that.” Riku only had to look up for the briefest of moments at the giant yellow mass in Sora’s arms to know that it wasn't a costume that would be flattering on him. Well, either of them.

Sora tightened his arms around the huge bundle of fabric and foam and took a step forward, purposefully jutting out his bottom lip in a pout. “Aww, come on, Riku. Kairi worked really hard on these. We can't go to her Halloween party next week without costumes!”

Riku took another sip of his drink then set it down with a sigh, brows furrowed in frustration. “I know she did, but why would she make us something so...goofy and cumbersome?”

Sora looked hurt at that and slumped his shoulders, picking idly at a stray yellow thread. “Because it’s what I wanted…” His voice was small and meek, disappointment crossing his features. “I wanted to have a couples costume with you this year…”

Riku's fingers pressed into his palm. “Sora, I’m not against having matching costumes. I just… Can’t we get something less weird from the Halloween store?” He eyed the giant blocks of foam, some bigger than his head. “I don't even know if we'll fit through the door in those.”

“It's not weird if we're together…”

Sora was silent after that and stared at the floor. Riku's heart clenched as a memory rushed back to him.

He was suddenly seven again, standing in Sora's living room watching his mom put the finishing touches on a giant piece of bread made of foam and fabric. When she finished, she held out the costume level with the floor so Sora could step his tiny feet into the bottom. She lifted it up over his head and waited for him to stick his face and arms out the appropriate holes before zipping it up the back. Sora laughed and spun to face Riku, arms held out to his sides in excitement.

“How do I look, Riku?”

“Like a dork,” Riku said, folding his arms across his chest but barely containing a smile.

“Hey, Mom did a good job. Everyone's going to love our costumes!”

Sora's mom held out a similar costume to Riku. “Do you want me to help you put yours on, Riku?”

Riku took one look at the costume, frowned, and turned his head away. “I'm not wearing it. It's stupid.”

Sora's mom didn't seem phased by the seven-year-old’s behavior, but Sora began to sniffle. Riku looked back at him and his stomach immediately felt tight.

“Riku…” Sora twisted his hands together, holding them close to his body as tears welled up in his eyes. “You don’t want to wear costumes with me anymore?”

Riku dropped his arms to his sides. “Sora, it's not you. The costume, it's dumb, that's all.”

Sora wiped his eyes on his arm and stared at the floor. “It's not dumb if it’s with you, Riku.”

When a single tear fell to the carpet, that was all Riku needed to decide to step forward and take the costume from Sora's mom and start putting it on. Even as a child, making Sora happy had always been the most important thing in Riku’s life. And the smile that came to Sora’s face at that moment was worth any embarrassment Riku could ever suffer. But then, it didn’t matter, because they were together.

Sora wrapped his arms around Riku and his giant costume, the foam forcing them to press their noses and foreheads together. “Yay! Thanks, Riku!”

They trick-or-treated as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that year.

Smiling at the memory, Riku stood and walked over to Sora and gently took the costume from his arms. He found Sora’s hand and held it in his, rubbing the skin softly. 

“You’re right. It’s not weird if I’m with you, Sora.” Sora’s eyes lit up and Riku knew he had made the right decision. Every decision that resulted in Sora’s happiness had always been the right one. He briefly recalled a birthday party when they were little where Sora made everyone come in costume. Riku was the first to arrive, decked out in a fuzzy werewolf getup to compliment Sora’s vampire. The memory made him smile. Sora had been so,  _ so  _ happy, and Riku wanted to make him feel that way always.

For a long moment, their gaze lingered on each other, neither wanting to look away. These little moments had become more and more common, and Riku savored every one.

When Sora’s face started turning red, he looked away shyly. “Thanks, Riku.” Then he turned to pick up a second giant yellow costume that had been sitting just behind the door frame. “Actually, this one is yours.”

Riku frowned as they exchanged costumes. “This one’s even bigger…”

Sora laughed and moved forward, squishing the costumes between them. “Well yeah,  _ you’re  _ the bigger one, silly.” Then he rose up on his toes and puckered his lips, not being able to reach at all with the costumes in the way. Riku almost broke out into a laugh at his best friend’s frozen, expectant expression, but he looked so cute the laugh got caught in his throat, and what came out was a soft half-chuckle as he leaned down to place a quick, chaste kiss onto Sora’s lips.

“Happy Halloween, Sora.”

\- - - - - One Week Later - - - - - 

“Hurry up, Sora, we’re going to be late!” Riku called up the stairs when yet another five minutes had passed and Sora still hadn’t emerged from his bedroom. The costume hadn’t been difficult for Riku to put on, so what was taking Sora so long?

“Okay, I’m ready!” Sora responded, finally opening the door and squeezing out into the hallway to stand at the top of the stairs dressed as one half of a giant paopu fruit. He spread his arms wide and smiled. “Ta-da! What do you think?”

“I think you need to get your butt down here so we can figure out how we’re going to row a boat to the island with these on.”

Sora rolled his eyes. “Okay okay, I’m coming.” He waddled down the stairs, the points of the half-star bobbing side to side, and Riku thought he might just look like the biggest dork in the world. But also the cutest one.

As he reached the bottom, Riku held out his hands to guide him down the final steps. “What took you so long, anyway?”

“Well, when I put it on the first time it was super itchy, so I had to take it back off and find some underwear.”

Riku was silent for a moment as his brain tried to figure out whether or not it wanted to fully process that information. “Umm… Sora, why did you—” He stopped himself when realizing there was no answer that would be in any way conducive to getting them out of the house faster. “Nevermind, let’s go.”

He took Sora’s hand and led him toward the front door until a voice from the kitchen halted their progress again.

“Now wait just a minute you two! Let me see you.”

They turned, hand in hand, to see Sora’s mom appear from the kitchen, her hands clasping in front of her chest in obvious glee. 

“Oh! You both look absolutely precious! Here, stand together so I can get a photo for the album.” She motioned for them to scoot closer to each other, which they did, their costumes slotting together perfectly to create one whole paopu fruit. The foam was squishy enough in the middle that they could keep their hands clasped together, and Riku silently thanked Kairi for designing them the way she did.

After Sora’s mom had taken far too many photos, Sora giggled and held out an arm to her. “Okay, Mom, we have to go or we’ll be late. Kairi wants to take photos of us on the island before the party starts at her house tonight.”

“Okay, Sweetie, have fun!” She wrapped an arm around him and kissed his cheek. “And be safe!”

Sora smiled warmly at her. “I will, I have Riku with me.” Riku felt a bit of heat on his face as he met Sora’s smile.

“I know. You boys take care of each other.” Sora’s mom said with a wave.

“Always.” Riku smiled at her and squeezed Sora’s hand as they ducked and squeezed themselves through the front door.

By the time they docked their boat at the island, the sun had already reached the point in the sky where the evening colors were just starting to show their peach and orange hues.

“Hurry up, Riku! Kairi wants to take pictures of us before the sun sets. We have to get to the paopu tree before then!”

“Yes, I know this, which is why I was hurrying you back at the house, Mr. I-don’t-know-how-to-put-on-a-costume.”

Sora simply stuck his tongue out in response as he walked backward across the sand. With each step he threatened to topple over but kept his balance, arms out to the sides, taking big steps in the sand. He was every bit a big kid on Halloween, and Riku loved his youthful spirit, unwavering despite every trial and hardship life had thrown at them. He was every bit  _ Sora _ , and Riku loved him for that.

Before he got too far away, Riku quickened his pace to catch up, grabbing him by the hand and pulling them together. Sora laughed as their costumes bounced against each other, each of them getting a face full of yellow fabric. Riku leaned back enough to see him and brushed a few stray bangs from Sora’s eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Sora pressed his lips together as his head cocked to the side. “Of course I do. Why?”

“Then close your eyes.”

After giving him another confused look, Sora did as he was told and Riku spun him around to face the treeline, covering his eyes with his hands to make sure he couldn’t peek. Riku watched and waited while the pieces he had set up moved into place, just as he had planned. It took a few minutes, but Sora was surprisingly patient yet clearly excited, bouncing a little on his heels and balling his fists. 

“Ready?” Riku asked once everything was set.

Sora nodded eagerly and Riku counted to three before removing his hands and revealing all of their friends from all the worlds gathered in full Halloween costumes with the addition of colorful party hats on their heads.

“Surprise! Happy Birthday, Sora!!” The chorus of voices rang out into the air and Riku savored Sora's shocked expression, his eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas.

“Guys, you’re all here! But...it’s Halloween. My birthday isn’t until—”

Kairi ran forward and crushed Sora in a hug, the ruffles of her flamenco dress billowing behind her. “Call it a half-birthday party. We wanted to surprise you.” She smiled and looked over Sora’s shoulder. “It was all Riku's idea.”

Sora rotated in place to look up at Riku in wonder. His expression was precious, a mixture of disbelief and pure joy.

Riku cleared his throat and averted his gaze. “I don't know if you remember, but when we were little you asked everyone to wear costumes to one of your birthday parties. You were so happy, and I guess I wanted to—” Before he could finish Sora caught him in a hug so forceful it knocked them both off balance and they tumbled to the ground, giant foam costumes breaking their fall. Sora pushed himself up far enough to breathe and beamed down at Riku with the tiniest hint of wetness in his eyes.

“Of course I remember. I can't believe you did this for me!” His smile softened then, and Riku's heart did that fluttery thing it tended to do around a soft, happy Sora. “Thanks, Riku.” He leaned in to kiss Riku's lips a little longer this time, and by the shift of weight on top of him Riku was pretty sure he had popped both feet into the air, too.

A loud scoff reminded them they had an audience. “That's great and all, but this is a birthday party, right? Shouldn’t there be a cake?” Roxas chided, then immediately grunted. Sora rolled off Riku in time for him to see Xion's elbow retracting back to her side. They were both dressed as zombies.

“We'll sing and eat whenever Sora’s ready. This is his day!” Xion said, smiling at Sora and adjusting her party hat.

Kairi helped Sora and Riku off the ground and Sora turned to the group. “Well, I still want pictures on the paopu tree, but after that we'll eat cake!” he said while throwing a fist into the air, then paused and turned to Kairi. “There's cake, right?”

Kairi brought her hand to her mouth and laughed. “Yes, Sora, there's cake—and ice cream!” She fished her Gummiphone out of a hidden pocket. “Come on, the sun's perfect right now!”

Riku smiled as Sora waved at everyone then took his hand, holding it tightly as they followed Kairi to the tree. After a little difficulty figuring out how to get up on the bent trunk, they moved as close as possible, their costumes slotting together. It felt like Kairi took about a thousand photos, giggling the entire time and telling them how cute they looked. Then she excused herself back to the party to prepare the desserts, leaving Sora and Riku a moment together.

“Thanks for planning all this, Riku. I was really surprised,” Sora said, swinging his feet from the branch.

“It wasn't that much. I'm just glad everyone agreed to meet here instead of Kairi’s house for the party.” Whether or not Riku intended it, his voice grew softer. “They all really love you, ya know.”

“I know. I'm so lucky.”

“Luck has little to do with it. You're a light in people's lives, Sora. You give them hope...make them feel good.” Riku paused. He wasn’t always good with expressing his own feelings in words. “You make me feel good.”

“Riku…” Sora’s entire face was glowing, gazing up at him, and just as Riku leaned in, Sora smirked and put a hand over Riku’s mouth. “You just want my Halloween candy.” Then realization struck him. “Wait...since this is a birthday party  _ and  _ a Halloween party, does that mean we get cake  _ and  _ candy?”

And just like that, Riku was laughing. Only Sora could give him the best kind of emotional whiplash. “Never change, Sora.” He leaned in again to place their foreheads together the best he could. “I love you.”

Sora's cheeks pinkened to match the sunset and his shy little smile was all Riku needed on this holiday or any other. “I love you too, Riku. Happy Halloween!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! The prompt was to combine a surprise birthday party with goofy Halloween costumes! It gave me some trouble at first but I like how it came together :) Thanks to dancingflames for the prompt and for organizing the exchange!
> 
> Comments welcomed and appreciated ♥
> 
> My Soriku Twitter: [@AuroraHearts_](https://twitter.com/AuroraHearts_)


End file.
